She grabbed her saber, pulled down her mask and started sparing with her long-time coach, Arkady Burdan, at the Nellya Fencers facility in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I've been doing this for 10 years," remarked Jacobson, 25, a first-year law student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "I never anticipated that this is where my life would take me, and it has been an amazing trip."

This year alone, that trip has taken her to competitions around the world from Algiers, Algeria, to Havana, Cuba, and eventually to Beijing, China, where she claimed two Olympic medals. Watch Sada Jacobson on the move »

About a dozen young fencers gathered around her during a break from their own lessons to take a close look at Jacobson's silver and bronze medallions.

She passed around another bronze medal that she earned at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Jacobson isn't one to brag, but she's happy to serve as a role model for the next generation of competitive fencers.

She said all it takes to be a champion is "a little hard work, a little luck and some guidance."